Thursday, December 31, 2009

As part of the Blue Coat Community Outreach Program, K9 Web Protection is free for home use.

Blue Coat® K9 Web Protection is a content filtering solution for your home computer. Its job is to provide you with a family-safe Internet experience, where YOU control the Internet content that enters your home. K9 Web Protection implements the same enterprise-class Web filtering technology used by Blue Coat's Fortune 500 customers around the world, wrapped in simple, friendly, and reliable software for your Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista computer.

Blue Coat's unique Web filtering technology divides Internet content into 60 distinct categories. These categories are stored in the master Blue Coat database, through which we maintain and update more than 15 million ratings of websites and domains. A Web site will fall into one or more of these categories, based on the content of the site. To meet your particular needs and preferences, you can configure the software to block or allow specific categories.

K9 Web Protection is different from other solutions for the home in several important respects:

Service-based filtering – Blue Coat's filtering database operates as a service. It receives and rates over 80 million requests every day, making it the most accurate content filtering database available. This accuracy is important in protecting your family, given the Internet's rapid changes and growth. Plus, there is no database to download. K9 Web Protection won't clog your Internet connection, get "stale" or out of date, or slow down your computer like other products do.

Dynamic Real-Time Rating™ (DRTR) – Blue Coat's patent-pending DRTR technology is a very powerful element in our solution, and is vastly different from the old-fashioned "key word filtering" that is so frustrating to users. Using a method of statistical analysis and artificial intelligence to rate new or previously unrated Web pages, DRTR can determine the category of a URL on the fly, without human intervention. However, DRTR only renders a rating when it is confident that it has reached an accurate conclusion. We've focused DRTR on recognizing the kinds of categories most likely to be blocked. In particular, DRTR is highly accurate in blocking pornography and other "adult content" sites. This focus for DRTR is particularly important because these kinds of sites are constantly – daily and even hourly – popping up on the Internet, and no static database can keep up.

Automatic updating – Automatic updates of the K9 Web Protection application ensure that you are always protected by the latest features. For example, in Spring of 2005, we added two new categories to our solution: Spyware/Malware Sources, and Spyware Effects/Privacy Concerns. By electing to block sites in these categories, your computer's rate of infection by unwanted software can be reduced dramatically. We have a variety of new features planned, and your K9 installation will automatically receive updates that include them.

Efficient caching – K9 Web Protection is a product from Blue Coat. Blue Coat is recognized world-wide as expert in high-performance caching and secure proxy technology. We take advantage of that expertise in K9, so your Internet experience is as fast, reliable, and safe as we can make it.

Unlike other filtering solutions, K9 Web Protection ensures the highest level of protection by building the most relevant ratings database available. Its effective coverage reaches more than one billion Web pages. With K9 Web Protection, you finally have a chance to build a family-safe Internet experience for your home, simply and easily.

This is great software to protect families with young children from bad or not appropriate sites.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

WASHINGTON— Dec. 1, 2009 — Baby boomers have a unique relationship to technology — different from any generation before or since — and they are actively shaping the devices, software and services of tomorrow by the choices they are making today, according to a new research report from AARP and Microsoft.

Curious to understand more clearly how baby boomers view and use technology, AARP and Microsoft decided to ask. In May 2009, the two organizations sponsored a series of focus group-like discussions with baby boomers in four U.S. cities: San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago and New York. Author and futurist Michael Rogers led the sessions as the baby boomers shared their technology-related experiences, insights and expectations — and how their personal values shape the way they choose and use technology. The result is “Boomers and Technology: An Extended Conversation” (http://www.aarp.org/boomertechnology), a report that offers fresh insights into a generation whose influence on technology is often overlooked, and creates a compelling picture of how boomers and other consumers will use technology in the near future.

“Baby boomers are savvy consumers who expect technology to be safe, easy to use and flexible enough to adapt to their individual needs,” said Rob Sinclair, director of Accessibility at Microsoft, who notes that many baby boomers came of age before most of the software applications and devices we now consider essential were invented. “When new technology products enter the market — products that are well-designed and can help create the life baby boomers want — they are enthusiastic early adopters who help lead the way.”

Baby boomers have the numbers and the economic clout to make their technology choices matter. By 2010, one-third of the U.S. population will be over 50. “That’s close to 106 million Americans controlling 50 percent of the country’s discretionary spending, and outspending younger adults by $1 trillion in 2010,” Rogers wrote in the report. “Consumers in their 50s show the highest intent to purchase consumer electronics among any age group.”

Yet, it is baby boomers’ values and ideals, more than their checkbooks, that are shaping the future of technology, according to Adam Sohn, director of Integrated Communications for AARP, a membership and advocacy organization for people age 50 and older.

“Baby boomers want technology that reflects their values and helps them express those values with greater purpose, meaning and impact,” Sohn said. “While boomers are heavy users of technology today — for everything from entertainment and news to online banking and social networking — what’s most exciting is the technology-assisted world they are helping to create.”

Rogers, a futurist, agrees: “Baby boomers see technology as a gift, not a given, so they are less likely than younger consumers to take it for granted. At the same time, baby boomers aren’t dazzled by every new gadget that comes along. Yet by embracing innovative new services and devices, and using them in unexpected ways to enhance their lifestyles and values, baby boomers are having a tremendous influence on emerging technologies.”

Based on his discussions with baby boomers, and his ongoing research into the relationship between society and technology and what’s currently in development, Rogers offers an exciting view of that world in 2019, just 10 years hence, when the youngest boomers will be turning 55 and Generation X will begin crossing the 50-year mark.

Within the decade, Rogers forecasts that some baby boomers and other consumers will be wearing sensor-equipped exercise clothing and GPS-enabled running shoes during workouts to monitor their physical condition, track the calories they burn, and upload the information automatically for storage and analysis. Other boomers will have prescription glasses that connect wirelessly to the Internet or other networks and display information in the lower half of the lens, or carry mobile devices that can function as electronic wallets, offer full telepresence and project large-format images on the wall.

Increasingly, baby boomers will use technology to help them care for their aging parents — employing sensors that alert them to changes in behaviors or routines that could signal problems — and to manage their own health with tools ranging from low-cost gene scans to implanted microchips that contain their health records. Boomers also will use computers to control energy use in their “green” homes and to redefine when, where and how they work. (For the complete forecast, see the full report and executive summary.)

“Baby boomers appreciate cool software and devices as much as anyone, but they also believe technology has the power to help bring about positive social change, and they want to make that happen,” Sohn said. “Boomers care deeply about social justice and individual freedoms, and they see technology as a tool that people can use to improve their lives and make the world a better place — from making society more democratic to helping all of us participate more fully and more directly in the decisions that affect us

This article is a repost form the Microsoft site but I felt this is so important that i posted it here.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Fireside Chats are Microsoft Live Meeting events with key Microsoft executives. The meetings are designed to be very much like a real "fireside chat" - the majority of each meeting is in the form of a discussion rather than a presentation. YOU get to pose the questions.

Although these events are open to all, they are aimed at the needs of User Group Leaders, MVPs and other technical experts.

You can even win a prize!

At each chat we will have an item we will send to a random attendee. Don't expect a new car or free holiday though - it's more likely to be a book or even the shirt off the presenters back, suitably signed by them!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Front Runner is an early adopter program that helps you get your applications compatible with the latest Microsoft technologies.

Windows® 7 and Windows Server® 2008 R2 are now available to the public, so now’s the time to make sure your application is compatible. We created this site to help you get compatible, providing resources such as:

Access to Microsoft Experts who can assist you with the planning of your project, and help you resolve development issues

MDT 2010 includes new features such as flexible driver management, optimized user interface workflow, and Windows PowerShellTM command line interface to help simplify deployment and make your job easier. Deploy faster and more easily with MDT 2010.

New in MDT 2010

Improvements in MDT 2010 allow you to:

Access deployment shares from anywhere on the network and replicate files and settings across organizational boundaries or sites.

The Infrastructure Planning and Design team is working on a new guide: DirectAccess. Get the beta by visiting the Connect Web site at http://connect.microsoft.com.

This IPD guide provides actionable guidance for designing a DirectAccess infrastructure. The guide’s easy-to-follow, four-step process gives a straightforward explanation of the infrastructure required for clients to be connected from the Internet to resources on the corporate network, whether or not the organization has begun deploying IPv6.

The guide covers four key steps in the design process for DirectAccess:

· Listing the decisions to be made and the commonly available options and considerations.

· Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics.

· Framing decisions in terms of additional questions to the business to ensure a comprehensive alignment with the appropriate business landscape.

Tell your peers about IPD guides! Please forward this mail to anyone who wants to learn more about Infrastructure Planning and Design guides.

Join the Beta

Additional Infrastructure Planning and Design guides are available as beta releases on the Connect Web site. They are open beta downloads. To join the Infrastructure Planning and Design Beta, do the following:

The Infrastructure Planning and Design team has released two updated guides for deployment and operations: Windows Deployment Services and System Center Operations Manager.These guides, updated to reflect the features and functionalities of Windows Server® 2008 R2 and System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2, outline the critical infrastructure design elements that are crucial to a successful implementation of these deployment and operations products.

The Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide for Windows® Deployment Services guides the reader through the process of designing a Windows Deployment Services infrastructure in a logical, sequential order. Following the six steps in this guide will result in a design that is sized, configured, and appropriately placed to enable rapid deployment of Windows operating systems, while also considering the performance, capacity, and fault tolerance of the system.

The Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide for Microsoft® System Center Operations Manager outlines the critical infrastructure design elements that are crucial to a successful implementation of Microsoft System Center Operations Manager. The guide takes the reader step-by-step through the process of designing components, layout, and connectivity in a logical, sequential order. Identification and design of the required management groups is presented in simple, easy-to-follow steps, helping the reader to design and optimize management infrastructure.

Listing the decisions to be made and the commonly available options and considerations.

Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics.

Framing decisions in terms of additional questions to the business to ensure a comprehensive alignment with the appropriate business landscape.

Tell your peers about IPD guides! Please forward this mail to anyone who wants to learn more about Infrastructure Planning and Design guides. Join the BetaAdditional Infrastructure Planning and Design guides are available as beta releases on the Connect Web site. They are open beta downloads. If you are not already a member of the IPD beta program, and would like to join, follow these steps:

You can now download the Office 2010 Beta at http://office.com/beta for product downloads, articles, product information and links to forums related to Office 2010. There, you can download and install the latest pre-release version of Office 2010 client software and experience the exciting new features we have added to server products such as SharePoint Server 2010 and Project Server 2010.

The .NET challenge at www.mydotnetstory.com to your customers, partners and colleges. They can submit their .NET solutions to a contest for a chance to win a 12-day Galapagos Islands trip or a Smart Car! They can also get featured on our wall of fame.

The Infrastructure Planning and Design team has released two updated guides, Selecting the Right Virtualization Technology and Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services.

With the release of these updated guides, the Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) series of guides further assists organizations in selecting the right virtualization technologies for their business needs.

To select an appropriate virtualization technology, organizations can look to the updated IPD Guide forSelecting the Right Virtualization Technology. This guide walks the reader through the technology selection process for each workload—and is now updated to include coverage of Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI).

If the IPD Guide forSelecting the Right Virtualization Technology points the organization to Remote Desktop Services as a best fit for their business needs, the guide then directs the user to theupdated IPD Guide for Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services, which then outlines key infrastructure planning and design guidance for a successful implementation of Remote Desktop Services. The IPD Guide for Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services leads the reader through the nine-step process of designing components, layout, and connectivity in a logical, sequential order. Identification of the RD Session Host farms is presented in a simple, easy-to-follow process, helping the reader to design and plan centralized virtual data centers.

Used together, these updated guides provide comprehensive planning and design guidance for implementing a Remote Desktop Services infrastructure. The IPD Guide for Selecting the Right Virtualization Technology also teams with other virtualization guides in the IPD Series—to provide end-to-end planning and design guidance for a variety of virtualization technologies.

For users of Windows Server 2008 R2, the Remote Desktop Services guide is a complete replacement for the Terminal Services guide. The Remote Desktop Services guide reflects the new capabilities introduced with Windows Server 2008 R2 as well as the rebranding of Terminal Services. The Infrastructure Planning and Design Guide for Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services remains available at http://www.microsoft.com/IPD.

Listing the decisions to be made and the commonly available options and considerations.

· Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics.

· Framing decisions in terms of additional questions to the business to ensure a comprehensive alignment with the appropriate business landscape.

Tell your peers about IPD guides! Please forward this mail to anyone who wants to learn more about Infrastructure Planning and Design guides.

Join the BetaAdditional Infrastructure Planning and Design guides are available as beta releases on the Connect Web site. They are open beta downloads. If you are not already a member of the IPD beta program, and would like to join, follow these steps:

Microsoft Security Intelligence Report (SIRv7) was released on November 2. It’s the largest security report that Microsoft has ever published -- with 232 pages on the latest trends and data points you need to better understand what is happening in the threat landscape today.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the SIR, the report provides insights into the threat landscape from multiple vantage points so that you receive a well-rounded view of how attackers are behaving on the Internet. For example, on page 41 you’ll find a malware infection rate “heat map” that illustrates infection rates around the world followed by deep dives into malware trends in 19 countries -- very helpful information if your organization does business in different parts of the world. Later in the report there is a graph that shows infection-rate trends for the different operating systems and service packs over the past two years. If you are an IT pro looking for data to help make the case to move to a newer, more secure OS or simply the newest service pack, the data in SIRv7 may be able to help.

The section in the SIR on industry-wide vulnerability disclosure trends to be very interesting.

On page 149 you’ll see that the vast majority of vulnerability disclosures since 2004 have been related to applications. This is a good reminder for all IT departments to maintain a strategy to keep all software up to date, not just the OS or the browser.

You can get the full report or the 19-page Key Findings Summary in ten languages at www.microsoft.com/sir, as well as video overviews if you aren’t in the mood to read.

The Infrastructure Planning and Design team has released a new guide: Microsoft Forefront Unified Access Gateway.

This guide outlines the critical infrastructure design elements that are key to a successful implementation of Forefront Unified Access Gateway (Forefront UAG). The reader is guided through the logical three-step process of selecting the Forefront UAG features required, determining the number of instances, and designing the infrastructure. If access logging is required, the guide leads the reader through selecting and designing the most appropriate data store.

• Listing the decisions to be made and the commonly available options and considerations.

• Relating the decisions and options to the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics.

• Framing decisions in terms of additional questions to the business to ensure a comprehensive alignment with the appropriate business landscape.

Tell your peers about IPD guides! Please forward this mail to anyone who wants to learn more about Infrastructure Planning and Design guides.

Join the BetaSubscribe to the IPD beta program and we will notify you when new beta guides become available for your review and feedback. These are open beta downloads. If you are not already a member of the IPD Beta Program and would like to join, follow these steps:

Related ResourcesCheck out all that the Infrastructure Planning and Design team has to offer! Visit the IPD page on TechNet, http://www.microsoft.com/ipd, for additional information, including our most recent guides.

A vulnerability discovered in the Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader applications could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code on the affected systems. Adobe Reader allows users to view Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Adobe Acrobat offers users additional features such as the ability to create PDF files. Successful exploitation could result in an attacker gaining the same privileges as the logged on user. Depending on the privileges associated with the user, an attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Failed exploit attempts will likely cause denial-of-service conditions.

It should be noted that there is no patch available for this vulnerability, and it is being actively exploited on the Internet.

SYSTEMS AFFECTED:

Adobe Acrobat Professional 9.2 and prior

Adobe Acrobat Standard 9.2 and prior

Adobe Reader 9.2 and prior

RISK:Government:

Large and medium government entities: High

Small government entities: High

Businesses:

Large and medium business entities: High

Small business entities: High

Home users: High

DESCRIPTION:Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat are prone to a remote code execution vulnerability when handling malicious PDF files. The vulnerability is found in a JavaScript function and is caused by an unspecified memory corruption error, which could be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary code. A few anti-virus vendors are currently detecting a malicious PDF file as Trojan.Pidief.H.Â Successful exploitation could result in an attacker gaining the same privileges as the logged on user. Depending on the privileges associated with the user, an attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Failed exploit attempts will likely cause denial-of-service conditions.

It should be noted that there is no patch available for this vulnerability, and it is being actively exploited on the Internet.

RECOMMENDATIONS:We recommend that application developers take the following actions:

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About Me

I am a self proclaimed geek who has authored, may technical training courses. As a speaker Jay has presented at many events including, user groups, Computer trade shows, DOD and federal conferences, ISPCON, TechEd, and WPC.
Jay is on the global board member of GITCA. Past President of ISACA-CT, Past president APCUG and is a Microsoft MVP Enterprise Security. Jay has been a MVP in in Windows, HPC, and Azure.